Combat Rogue

Is Combat worth levelling?

Yes, and it is the safe answer. Rated 4 out of 5 for levelling: "an incredibly simple class to play and to optimize damage. Your rotation will consist primarily of two buttons, Sinister Strike and Eviscerate." And: "Combat is likely going to continue being an amazing spec for leveling and endgame PvE content."

Sources disagree about how to build it, and the disagreement is philosophical rather than factual — one publishes a pure damage build and states outright "we have made to ignore talents that offer us more defensive stats, specifically Dodge and Parry", while the other publishes a Riposte survivability build. Both are legal; pick by whether you solo elites.

Your talent points

Level 20 — 0/11/0. Two published builds, and they genuinely contradict each other.

The damage build, whose allocation is forced because the max ranks sum to exactly eleven:

1. Improved Sinister Strike, 2 points
2. Improved Eviscerate, 3 points
3. Precision, 3 points
4. Puncturing Wounds, 3 points

The Riposte build, for survivability:

1. Lightning Reflexes, 3 points
2. Improved Sinister Strike, 2 points
3. Deflection, 3 points
4. Precision, 2 points
5. Riposte at 20

Its stated use: "High amount of survivability… best for soloing elites or clearing areas with multiple melee mobs packed closely together."

Level 30 — 0/21/0, in this order: Improved Sinister Strike 2 → Improved Eviscerate 3 → Precision 3 → Deflection 3 → Riposte 1 → Endurance 2 → Improved Sprint 1 → Flawless Execution 1 → Dual Wield Specialization 4 → Blade Flurry at 30.

Rotation

At level 20 all three Rogue specs play the same, and the source says so: "During the early stages of Rogue leveling, it is difficult to really differentiate the specializations."

1. From 20, Instant Poison on both weapons
2. Open from Stealth with Ambush
3. Backstab if you are behind the target, otherwise Sinister Strike
4. At 5 combo points, Slice and Dice if the target will survive its duration
5. Otherwise Eviscerate at 5 combo points

Multi-target: nothing until level 30. Blade Flurry is 25 energy, +20% melee speed, and one extra nearby target for 15 seconds. Two useful framings: it is "two-target pressure, not damage across an unlimited pack", and "always use it on cooldown for boss fights" — the haste alone justifies it single-target.

Stat priority

Weapon damage, then Hit and Expertise, Agility, critical strike, Strength, Stamina.

Published gear advice adds: slow main hand, fast off hand, and "Intellect and Spirit are wasted on a rogue."

What defines Combat

What Forever changed for Rogues

• Poisons and Lockpicking are now secondary skills — "like First Aid" — not Rogue class skills. Poison numbers are lower with more charges: Instant Poison rank 1 is "13 to 17 instead of 19 to 25, 60 instead of 40" charges. Poison and a sharpening stone now stack.
• Rogues can learn axes. Note that the skill starts at 1, so a new axe will miss constantly until you raise it.
• Weapon Expertise grants no weapon skill at all — it now reduces enemy dodge and parry by 1% per rank.
• The tree "trades the dagger, fist and mace specializations for Flawless Execution and Puncturing Wounds." Improved Backstab was removed. Improved Eviscerate moved in from Assassination; Improved Gouge moved out to it.
• Precision is 3 ranks not 5 (3% hit maximum, was 5%). Dual Wield Specialization gives 5% per rank, not 10%. Endurance is now percentage-based at 30% per rank.
• Baseline nerfs worth knowing: Rupture rank 6 is "159 instead of 272"; Eviscerate rank 6 was lowered. Expose Armor was buffed — rank 5 is "450 instead of 340".
• Spell, melee and ranged hit are now one stat, as are all three critical strike chances.

At level 60

Unknown, and for Combat the open question is concrete: how Hack and Slash's per-weapon-family effects and the new Weapon Expertise interact with raid weapons. Item stats are hidden until they drop, so the weapon-choice question is not merely untested — it is currently unanswerable.